Passion Pit fight through vocal struggles to live up to their first name

Passion Pit at Iron
City Thursday night. Review gets three out of five stars.

If you're familiar with Passion Pit, the sold-out crowd at
Iron City Thursday night was a predictable one.

Teenagers wearing glow sticks and large Xs on their hands
were interspersed with twenty- and thirty-somethings who, upon looking around, were constantly reflecting on how "old" they are.

That's because Passion Pit, who made a long-overdue
appearance in Birmingham, are a youthful band in all the right ways: their high
energy and emotional lyrics connect to younger audiences in a big way, but
their pop sensibilities are crafted well enough to reach fans of all ages.

After a frenetic opening set from Welsh indie rock trio The
Joy Formidable, Passion Pit arrived at 9:15 and kicked off their set with "Make
Light" and "The Reeling," a pair of tracks from their debut album, "Manners."

Lead singer Michael Angelakos was in his trademark blazer and
tie, a spectacular light show strobed and flickered across the audience and the
stage, the synth-heavy band was electric and the crowd was going wild.

"You guys are crazy," said Angelakos, who hopped across the
stage and interacted with the audience throughout the night.

There was one thing holding the Boston frontman (and, by
association, the band itself) back, though – his voice wasn't at its usual
capacity. Angelakos' vocals are fueled by a powerful falsetto, but on this night, the power
seemed to be lacking.

Halfway through the show, Angelakos came clean about his
struggles. "How many of you suffer from allergies?" he asked. "I woke up this
morning and I had no voice. I'm somehow making it through this show."

He did indeed make it through the show, to his credit. But after
the band played "Sleepyhead," their breakout song from their 2008 EP "Chunk of
Change," and returned to the stage for their encore, Angelakos sounded like his
vocal chords were running on empty.

"We were gonna just do one song, but I feel like we should
do two," he said. "I hope I can make it through."

Angelakos encouraged the crowd to help him by singing along
during the two-song encore of "Cry Like A Ghost" and "Little Secrets," but he
was practically whispering by the end of the show.

All of this is not to say that Passion Pit put on a bad
performance. Despite the sub-par singing, there was plenty to like about the
band's set (although its 75-minute duration is certainly on the short side of a
typical sold-out headliner at Iron City).

What really saved the day for Angelakos was, well, his
passion.

It's easy to tell that Angelakos loves what he does. He
connects with the crowd, he moves around to keep the energy levels high and he
performs his heart out. Simply put, he sings to his fans, not for them.

Sure, he may have had an off night. But Angelakos did all
that he could to put on a show for the capacity crowd. And the fans, whether
they were drinking beer and liquor or Coke and water, showed their appreciation
by dancing and singing throughout the evening.